In the framework of the implementation of the Regional Quality Infrastructure (RQI), ECOWAS, supported technically and financially by the WAQSP, organized two regional meetings in February and April 2017. The Department of Industry and quality promotion first organized an information workshop in Bamako (Mali) on the results of the study for the implementation of the Quality Infrastructure Scheme of ECOWAS. It then gathered in April in Abidjan, the ECOWAS ministers responsible for industry and agriculture for the adoption of draft texts previously validated by their respective experts.

On the sidelines of these meetings, ECOWAS Commissioner for Quality, Kalilou Traore, personally briefed ministers on the state of implementation of the ECOWAS Quality Policy (ECOQUAL). On 02 February 2017, he was received in audience by the Malian minister for industrial development, Mohamed Aly Ag Ibrahim. He led a delegation composed of representatives of WAEMU, UNIDO, the President of the Federation of West African Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FCCIAO), responsibles of NINAS (Accreditation Body of Nigeria) and the West African Accreditation System (SOAC), the Director of the Africa Bureau of the International Electrotechnical Commission (CEI-Africa), the President of the Federation of West African Employers Associations FOPAO), representatives of the African Accreditation Cooperation (AFRAC) and the PTB (German Metrology Organization), etc.

On 18 April 2017, ECOWAS Commissioner Traore took the same step towards the Ivorian minister of Industry and Mines, Jean Claude Brou. This time, he was accompanied, among others, by the Head of the WAEMU quality promotion Division, representing his Institution, NINAS and SOAC responsible, the WAQSP Manager at UNIDO, and the Director of Industry in ECOWAS.

In both Bamako and Abidjan, the two ministers assured Commissioner Traore of their firm will to support at the highest level the process of validation of the texts to govern the implementation of the Regional Quality Infrastructure in accordance with the Community Regulation N ° C / REG.19 / 12/13, taken in December 2013. They also expressed their sincere thanks to the European Union and UNIDO for their decisive support for promoting quality in the region.